You should have life insurance if anyone depends upon you financially, a spouse, children or aged parents, for example. Perhaps you are helping to pay for a brother or sister's university studies or have guaranteed a car or personal loan.
If you were to suddenly die, the people you help and care for now may find themselves facing a precarious financial situation. In addition, the value of your estate could be dramatically reduced, as assets you've built up are disposed of to pay creditors and settle outstanding taxes.
You should also own life assurance if you have any hire-purchase or lease agreements, are paying a bond or have any unsettled personal loans.
But it is not only formally employed people who should have life insurance cover. If you stay at home and provide services such as cooking, cleaning and child care for your family, you are making an enormous contribution. If you were suddenly removed, those left behind would have to make alternative arrangements in order to keep the family functioning.
Invariably those adjustments come with a price-tag. Children may have to be put into nursery schools or after-school care facilities, additional house-help might have to be hired and new transportation arrangements made -- and that is the "best case" scenario!
Without the financial means to cope with your loss, the impact on your family could be devastating. They may be forced to uproot and move to a more convenient location that is closer to schools and facilities. In some cases there may be no option but to enrol children in a boarding school and to cut back on facets of their lives that they are used to.
You may work in the home but do not under estimate the financial contribution you make. As a partner and contributor to the financial well-being of your family, you also need life insurance.
Older couples also need life assurance to protect the surviving spouse and ensure that savings and retirement funds are not depleted by unexpected medical or other expenses.
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